Murky water sparks shark alarm

SWIMMERS appeared oblivious this week to the dangers of swimming in brown and murky rivers and estuaries, which are home to large numbers of bull sharks.

Queensland Shark Control Program manager Tony Ham said there was a lot more shark activity at this time of year.

While the number of tiger sharks close to shore was up, Mr Ham said bull sharks were the major concern as they made their homes in the murky water.

“The larger females are coming in to pup while the smaller ones set up their feeding territories at this time of year,” Mr Ham said.

“The murky waters contain a lot of food for them – it is their prime hunting area as they hunt best in murky water.”

But the children swimming near Chambers Island yesterday seemed oblivious to the dangers.

Mr Ham said people needed to be responsible about where they swam.

“At the moment there is a lot of fresh water around and after heavy rain events, it gets the sharks stirred and very active,” he said.

“Since the 1980s we've been trying to tell people of the dangers of swimming in these areas (rivers and estuaries).''

Mr Ham said tiger sharks were coming closer to shore to feed off turtles and large fish.

As many as 11 sharks were caught in nets off the Sunshine Coast during October and November.

“Six were bull sharks, a single tiger shark and four long-nose whalers, a relative of the bull shark,” Mr Ham said.

The largest was a 2.5 metre female bull shark caught in October off Noosa with eight pups in her stomach.

Coolum Beach was closed for about half an hour on Saturday morning after three surfers reported seeing a large shark about 50 metres off the main beach.

Coolum's Surf Lifesaving patrol captain Peter Gardiner said he was informed about the sighting just after 6.30am as he was preparing for the 7am opening of the beach for the start of the school holidays.

“There were three surfers who spotted the shark on several occasions – it was seen close to shore about 50 metres out just north of the clubhouse,” Mr Gardiner said.

“The surfer I spoke to was a lifesaver from Miami on the Gold Coast who reckoned he knew a shark from a dolphin.

“He said he saw a fin out of the water – at least 30cms high – which would make it a big shark”.

Mr Gardiner searched the beach as the IRB driver for around 20 minutes, mainly to scare it off, but never saw anything and the beach was opened at 7.30am.

No further sightings have been reported.

Mr Ham said bull sharks were most likely to be the cause of a shark attack.

He said they could be found far up the river as well as in a few inches of water, with reports of some beaching themselves.

However, Queensland would not be following New South Wales in using helicopters to report shark sightings.

Mr Ham said this was highly expensive and it was not a great deterrent.

“We know sharks are in the water and we don't try to hide the fact. If you swim where there are lifeguards, lifesavers and controlled equipment, the chances are you won't have an attack,” he said.

Only one fatal shark attack has been reported on Queensland beaches since safety measures were introduced in 1962.

This was the tragic attack of former Burnside student Sarah Kate Whiley by bull sharks off North Stradbroke Island in 2006.